A CHANGE OF THINKING

I want to ask you to do me a special favor that, for the large part, should be painless. I want you to change your way of thinking….now, before you go off the deep in, take a deep breath and listen to my proposal.

From the beginning of creation, God has had a specific way of considering the 24 hours that make up a day. From His word we read in Genesis 1:5, “and the evening and the morning were the first day.” Did you catch that?

You and I don’t think that way, do we? We see it just the opposite. A day is the morning followed by the evening….always has been, always will be….and that’s what requires a change of thinking on our part.

There is always a wonderful truth embedded in even the smallest scripture …if we are only willing to take a good look. If we could but see our days as God sees them….first the evening followed by the morning, what a difference that could make.

We would then spend each evening contemplating and meditating on the activities and responsibilities that God will set before us in the morning….and then spend time asking Him for His guidance and blessing upon all that He wants us to accomplish for Him and His kingdom. Then, as we place our head on our pillows, we are free to experience a full night’s rest as we give everything to Him. We can sleep in the full assurance that He is in complete control and we can lay aside the worries and cares that beset us after a day of hurried activities.

David, the psalmist wrote, “Weeping may endure for the night, BUT JOY COMES IN THE MORNING!” Psalm 30:5 Why not change your thinking in this area of your life and experience the joy that is yours each new day…..Let me know if seeing each day the way God sees it works for you….it only takes a moment to change your mind.

Enjoying the new day and all its promise,

WPQ

Thought for the Day:

The eyes of the Lord travel to and fro

Seeking to find someone;

Upon whom he might bestow

Blessings for a life well done

So give Him your love and obedience

And each morning when you arise…

Plan to live this day for Him

To find favor in His Eyes.

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WHERE WILL YOU SPEND ETERNITY?

There are two questions that have always plagued mankind…”Why am I here?” and “Where am I going when I die?” The Bible speaks to both of these, but the one that seems most problematic is “Where will you spend eternity, Heaven or Hell?”

What do you think it takes for someone to get into heaven….Luck? …A serious regimen of religion? ... Or if the good things you do outweigh the bad?

The real answers to the questions above come from God’s infallible word…The Holy Bible…it says that it is all a matter of  ….F. A. I. T. H.

F is for Forgiveness….For everyone has sinned and needs God’s forgiveness.
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

”But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” Ephesians 1: 7

A is for Available… God’s forgiveness is available for all.
“God so loved the world in this way: He gave His one and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

And though God’s forgiveness is available, IT IS NOT AUTOMATIC…. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Matthew 7:21

I is for Impossible… the Bible says it is impossible to get to heaven on our own.
“By grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift-not from works, so that no on can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

So how can a sinful person have eternal life and enter heaven?

T is for Turn…Turn means repent; a change of direction from sin and self.
“Unless you repent, you will all perish as well!” Luke 13:3

Turn to Jesus alone as your Savior and Lord….I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

Here is the greatest news of all.

“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation.” Romans 10:9
What happens if a person is willing to repent of their sins and confess Christ?

H is for Heaven....Heaven is a place where we will live with God forever.

“If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.” John 14:3

Eternal life begins now with Jesus. “I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance.” John 10:10

H can also stand for How…..How can a person have God’s forgiveness, eternal life, and heaven?

The answer is simple….trust Jesus as your Savior and Lord. 

If you would like to receive the forgiveness of your sin so that you might know where you will spend eternity, why not ask Jesus to come into your heart right this very minute?
Just pray something like this……

"Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner and have displeased you in many ways. I believe in my heart that you died for my sins and through my faith in your death and resurrection, I am forgiven. I commit my heart to you and turn from my sin and ask you to come into my life as my Lord and Savior. From this day forward, I will follow you and seek to live a live that is pleasing to you. Thank you, Lord, for saving me.

AMEN.

If you would like to share your decision with us or you would like some additional materials or need prayer, please contact us at thankfulpraise777@gmail.com.

Empty Baskets or Filled to the Brim…

In our  recent study, we have been looking at abiding in the Savior and in our last writing; we took a quick peek at the scriptures that deal with bearing fruit. In our study today, let’s examine more closely what Jesus says about those that bear fruit and how much is enough.

In John 15, we read the following; “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Verses 2,5,8

In Dr. Wilkerson’s book, Secrets of the Vine, he tells a very poignant story of a person visiting a vineyard at harvest time. As they travel throughout the different terraces of vines, they notice the baskets set at the end of each row of vines. Peering into each one as they pass, they notice four distinctive levels of productivity from the corresponding vines….

EMPTY….barren vines produce no harvest

SOME FRUIT…..some work and some care produces some fruit

MORE FRUIT …. At last, hard work and some careful pruning produce a reasonable harvest….and lastly,

ABUNDANTLY FILLED TO OVERFLOWING….This is the harvest the vineyard keeper expected when he planted his vineyard.

These are the levels of abundance that God sees in the lives of His children and He is either very proud or greatly disappointed in the harvest….God created us to bring about abundance and to produce a great harvest, so the question that faces us all….are you an empty basket or one brimming and overflowing with the fruit you have produced for your Heavenly Father?

If you have a desire to learn more about the abundance that God expects from you and how He is prepared to help you breakthrough as His disciple, I challenge you to get Dr. Bruce Wilkerson’s book and dive in….your empty basket is waiting to be filled!

Living in the abundance …tending the vines,

WPQ

 Thought for the Day:

Whatever task God has given you

Be filled with holy zest;

For when you’re working for the Lord

He expects your very best.

All of you, our Lord requires

It’s what He ask of you.

Your works for Him will overflow;
In His mercies, you're made new!

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Bearing Fruit…'Tis the Season

I love the spring season as the earth begins to re-bud and refurbish itself. The trees are once again full of leaves and blossoms… and that means delicious fruit can’t be far behind.

In Dr. Wilkerson’s book, he teaches that for us to abide in Christ and to know that we are doing so; all one must do is look at the fruit we are producing. John 15: 5, 8 say the following; “I am the Vine and you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”

In these simple, yet profound words that came out of the mouth of our Lord, just hours before He died, we learn our true reason for being…the only reason that we still call this planet home as a follower of Jesus Christ …we have been left behind to BEAR MUCH FRUIT.

So the question becomes….What is fruit and how do I know if I am bearing much, little or none at all?

For many, the biblical understanding of fruit is the winning of souls to Jesus Christ …and that would be whole heartily correct; but, if we examine other scriptures throughout God’s word, we would find this definition of “being fruitful” too limiting. Take for instance Titus 3:14 that reads, “Let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.”

So in practical terms, fruit represents good works…a work of thought, attitude or action of ours that God values and that in our doing glorifies Him…the fruit from our lives is how God receives the honor and glory due Him here on earth.

Now, we produce inner fruit when we allow God to make us more like Jesus…to make us more Christ-like in the “fruits of the Spirit” which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22…and we bear outward fruit when our labor for the Lord brings Him glory, which would certainly include winning others to the life-saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

So, whether you are raking leaves and doing yard work for the widow down the street or planting a church as a missionary in the deepest jungles of Africa, outward fruit is a result of your inward motive to bring God glory. No matter how small your task for the Lord nor how great its intended outcome, your dreams of serving God will always be too small…so remember this…

WE ARE STILL HERE TO FULFILL GOD’S DREAMS….AND TO BRING HIM GLORY THROUGH A REMARKABLELY LIVED ABUNDANT LIFE.

Just look in your fruit basket and check out how you are doing…..until next time,

Living for the Savior ….Bearing Much Fruit,

WPQ

Thought for the Day:

If you want to live for Jesus,

Have others see Jesus in you;

Then you should seek to abide in Him

In everything you do.

Your life should be an open book…

Each page tells His great story;

And all the things you say and do

Will bring the Father glory.

Abiding  in the Savior…Sailing Life's Stormy Seas

After yesterday’s thought, I hope you were left with the unequivocal assurance that you belong to Jesus and you have committed yourself to complete surrender. So, now your are ready to take the first step along the road to a fulfilling life in Christ ….ABIDING IN THE SAVIOR!

Before Christ left the Upper Room, he drew that small band of men known as his disciples into a tightly formed circle (my conjecture) and began to share with them his dying words. He spoke gently, but firmly to them, as he continued to teach them and to prepare them for what the next hours and days would bring. He told them in John 15. “ I am the true Vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Abide in me as I abide in you. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15: 1-2, 4a, 5

Did you catch all that? Do you hear the words of your Savior just hours before he began his journey to the cross of Calvary? Do you fully understand all that he is trying to tell each of us as He prepares us for what lies ahead?

I believe I can best illustrate what Jesus was saying by sharing a little of my history regarding my service in the US Navy…and some interesting parallels that will help us understand this concept of abiding.

Now, I was stationed aboard an old tin can destroyer, USS Strong DD-758, a World War II relic, if ever there was one. Our ship was tethered to the pier in our home port of Charleston, SC when it wasn’t in route overseas for a  Mediterranean cruise or sailing about the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. I learned early as a seaman in the deck force that the ship needed to be in the water to do the most good…to perform its duties and function as a member of the Sixth Fleet. I also learned that though it was good for the ship to be in the water, it was extremely BAD for the water to get into the ship.

The ship had to abide in the water or it was just a large hunk of metal that had little value…it could not fulfill its true mission as a naval vessel unless it was in the water; however, it made for a very bad situation if the water got into the ship.

Now in this example, the water is two very distinct things….it is Jesus and it is the World. For each of us to reach our highest and greatest potential, we need to be like the ship and abide in the water…Jesus. If we are taken out of the water, we will be of little value; not much more than a big pile of flesh and bones, waiting for the undertaker. In the water of Jesus, we are free to sail far and wide as we accomplish the things that we were created to do; but, in the water as the World, we face serious problems if we let the world inside of us.

Trust me, you do not want to be in the middle of the ocean and hear the command to “abandon ship”….the only place you have to go is into the water…and many a sailor has drowned at sea when they left the comforts of their vessel for the dark waters of a raging storm.

So how do we keep the water out of us, yet sail unfettered in this world in which we live…we abide in Jesus and we do as he taught his disciples….GUARD YOUR HEART!

Dr. Bruce Wilkinson’s book, SECRETS OF THE VINE, offers some helpful insights to help us understand how we can guard our hearts from the drowning effects of the water of the world…so, come back tomorrow and we will uncover these wonderful principles together.

Sailing in the loving waters of my Savior,

WPQ

Thought for the Day:

If upon life's seas your tossed

And water gets in your boat…

Abide in Jesus, just trust in Him

And you will stay afloat.

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Surrender to the Savior

On my last writing, I posed the question, “ How does one go about abiding in the Lord” and how do we accomplish staying connected to “The Vine” in the tumultuous days in which we live? However, the better question to begin with is how do we know that we are indeed a “part of the Vine”

In scripture, we find my favorite story of the little man known as Zacchaeus in Luke 19, verses 1-11. Here, we see the total transformation of this tax collector as Jesus calls him down from his lofty perch and makes him his host for the evening meal. The Pharisees and others grumble that Jesus would have anything to do with such a sinner…. and Christ’s simple response, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he is also a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost!”

But notice in the verses just before Christ’s declaration of his life’s mission, Zacchaeus says, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will repay it fourfold.” It is in this declaration of this little man that we see a new heart born, filled with the love of God. It is that transformation that seals the deal and ushers Zacchaeus into a new relationship with the Lord of heaven and earth.

And the same must be true for you and me; before we can seek …before we can offer salvation…we must SURRENDER TO THE SAVIOR!!!!!

If we want to truly abide in the Son, we must first surrender our will to him…life can no longer revolve around what you or I want …it must revolve, evolve and involve the statement that Christ made on the doorstep of the home of this horrid little man that everyone despised…. we must surrender to Him so that we can seek and save those that are lost!

 Zacchaeus provides the perfect role model as he demonstrated submission to Jesus; he gave half of his wealth to the poor and sought to right the wrongs of his past. In other words, he repented and sought to live a new and better life. The same holds true for you and me. If we confess to belong to Jesus and truly seek to abide in Him, we cannot cling to our “old” ways, habits, shortcomings and idiosyncrasies…we must repent and refurbish the old life with the new indwelling of the Holy Spirit that is vital to anyone that wants to abide in Jesus.

So, today cast aside all the things that would keep you from complete surrender to Christ and begin ANEW in the freshness of the Savior…. listen for His voice, sing a new song, read His word and know that wherever you go, HE GOES…. so choose wisely!

Jesus came to seek and to save and if you will surrender your will to Him in a new and resolute way, you will be taking the first step to a new realm of personal intimacy with Jesus…. the life lived in abiding joy, peace and eternal fulfillment.

Come back again as we continue to learn how to draw close to Him…

Living in surrender…seeking the lost for the Savior,

WPQ

Thought for the Day:

You may attempt to persuade another to change their point of view;

But nothing speaks more plainly than what Christ has done in you.

So if another’s lifestyle you are hoping to rearrange

Testify how the Father’s love can make an everlasting change.

When the World Puts the Squeeze On….

We have all heard the old adage, “When the world hands you lemons, make lemonade!” This seems to be a strong statement of how we are to react when things don’t seem to go our way; however, I have a question that comes from a different vantage point that I would like for us to consider.

“What comes out of you when the world puts the squeeze on?” is a question that begs for an answer with a biblical bent. Now, we all know that if you squeeze fresh oranges, you get orange juice….with those little bits of pulp. If you squeeze lemons, you do indeed get the first ingredient of lemonade….LEMON JUICE. Grapes…grape juice! Apples….apple juice! Pomegranates….well, you get my drift!

But, what about when the world squeezes you and me….what kind of “juice” comes out? As Christians, we are to bear the “Fruits” of the Spirit and according to the passage in Galatians 5:22-23 that reads, “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

So when the pressures of life seem to be bearing down on you and the squeeze is on…. what “juice” comes out of you? Do you rejoice with a fellow employee that gets the promotion you wanted or do you belittle their worth with unkind words that reflect your attitude of “sour grapes”? Do you show kindness and patience when a rude driver cuts you off in traffic or do you fill the air with words that aren’t fit for use at church?

Whatever we do …wherever we go…. whatever we say…we should reflect the love and compassion of our Savior so that when the world applies pressure to our often tenuous situation …what is squeezed out of our mouth is characterized by His love, His grace and His mercy.

But how can we be sure that what comes out of us in times of intense pressure will be the fruit of the Spirit…. the simple answer is this…. we must abide in Him! Jesus told his disciples and us, on the night before his crucifixion, that we could do NOTHING without Him…that all of our hopes to accomplish anything for Him would meet failure …unless WE ABIDE IN HIM.

So no matter how we try to survive the real and on-going pressures of this world, we will fail… and what comes out of us WILL NOT be pleasing to our Heavenly Father, unless we learn to abide in the person of Jesus Christ.

If you’re not sure how to pull this off, yet you desperately want to have the fruits of the Spirit flowing from you when the world applies its devastating pressure; follow along over the next few days as we examine (from the Scriptures) how to abide in Jesus.

Abiding in Him…Enjoying the pressure,

WPQ

Thought for the Day:

Father, it is through your Spirit

We are filled with your love and power.

Please make us more like Jesus

Each day and every hour.